


The face of fear

by Dabberdees



Series: Old Friends Senior Companion Sanctuary [5]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Also it's pure angst, Cause that clown is horrible and the actual idea is scary, Gen, Heavy Angst, I took some creative liberties with the entity, Remember that time Bradley Walsh played that horrible clown/showman in Sarah Jane Adventures, Well this is a fic explaining why it has Graham's face
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 17:56:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17329733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dabberdees/pseuds/Dabberdees
Summary: A chance encounter with an powerful entity causes The Doctor to bump into a very old friend. But why does she look look at Graham in fear?





	The face of fear

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't seen the episode it is on Youtube, although it's sped up a bit. Before Bradley Walsh was on Doctor Who he played a terrifying villain in Sarah Jane Adventures, think the PG version of Stephen Kings It.

The TARDIS has landed in the Weserbergland Mountains of Lower Saxony, 1283. The Doctor picked up a trace of a falling meteorite from the Jeggorabax Cluster and sent The TARDIS to chase after it.

“So where exactly have we landed?” asked Yaz, putting on her coat.

“Lower Saxony, or as you would call it now, Germany. The meteorite has crashed not far from The TARDIS, should be a short walk.” responded The Doctor, making her way from the console. “It’s important that we at least check this one out.”

“Then we’re going back to Sheffield? Cause I gotta get more supplies for the kitchen here,” grumbled Graham, wanted to get back and have some proper food.

“Yes, Sheffield next, I promise you, Graham.” She has walked further towards the TARDIS doors now, her Fam following close behind. She turns to face them. “Right Fam, a few rules first. The beings that live in the Jeggorabax Cluster, they feed on emotions. So you feel anything wrong, something that you know doesn’t feel right. Let me know straight away.” The Doctor stares at each of her friends, she would’ve preferred to do this by herself, but it couldn’t be helped that she picked up the signal on the way back to Sheffield. “When we get there, let me scan it first to see if it’s dangerous.”

“And if it is?” questioned Ryan.

“We contain it and drop it back to the Jeggorabax Cluster.” replied The Doctor, opening the doors to the cold air. “The chance of something surviving the trip from the cluster would be very low.”

They all nod in agreement and follow her out and into the cold of the mountains. The Doctor was right; the trip wasn’t too long, the terrain not to hard to navigate. They enter a clearing, trees knocked down and scorched earth with an alien-looking rock in the centre of it. The Doctor motions for them to hang back as she approaches. She takes out her sonic and starts to scan, before lifting it back towards her face to read the recordings.

“I’m not reading anything too nasty, there’s a very weak energy source coming from it, but I reckon that’s just from the distance it travelled. Whatever was living on it has long since died.” She looks at the meteorite with a sad expression, yes, the creature in question would be very dangerous and very powerful if it was alive and allowed to remain on Earth. It’s just a shame when something has to die.

Ryan, Yaz and Graham all walk forward, stopping near the weird meteorite. The Doctor has turned away, scanning the local area and too invested in the readings to notice the three Humans edging closer.

An entrancing voice echoes in their heads, forcing them to walk towards the meteorite. “Come closer.” purred the sound, causing the hair of the back their necks to stand on edge. Their legs propel forward, but their minds telling them not too, screaming _“Wrong, get the Doctor!”_ All three of them are stood close to it now, staring and reaching out to touch it.

“There’s an energy buzzing all around this clearing Fam.” said The Doctor looking at the burnt trees, head poking up when she doesn’t hear a reply. She turns to watch what they’re doing and gasps “No, nope, not as dead as I thought.” She runs at Yaz, pushing her to the side and breaking the hold it has on her. She turns her attention to Graham and Ryan, can only grab one before the other gets to it and Yaz is still picking herself up. The Doctor makes a tough decision and pushes Ryan away, she rushes to grab Graham but just as she grabs him his bare hand touches the meteorite, sending a green light across the clearing and knocking them both back. They hear a spine-tingling laughter echo around before the light fades.

The three humans are slowly coming round. The Doctor turns to Graham and grabs his hand, noticing a rough-looking burn on it, she pulls out her sonic and starts to scan. Graham stares at her in confusion before his brain starts to register the stinging burn.

“What the hell happened, Doc?” said Graham, trying to pull his hand free. The Doctor stares at him and pulls his hand back, carrying on with scanning it.

“Don’t move; I need to see what it did to you. I should’ve paid more attention, they get into your head, and I thought it was dead.” explained The Doctor, finishing her scan and reading the results. “Thankfully, it’s just a burn. I have more of that healing cream in The TARDIS, why it needed one of you to touch it though, I don’t know. I’ll look into it.” She turns to the meteorite again, scanning it and frowning. She finds no energy coming from the meteorite now. This is bad, they’ve unwittingly let loose a parasitic creature on Earth, and it’s intelligent, it will hide, she won’t be able to find it now, not for a long while.

Ryan and Yaz have picked themselves back up and have moved to help Graham up, careful not to touch the burn on his hand. “I think Sheffield is a good idea right now,” said Ryan, helping Graham from the clearing and making their way back to the TARDIS.

Yaz watches them go before turning to face The Doctor. “Why didn’t it control you, Doctor?”

The Doctor turns her attention away from the meteorite and towards Yaz. How to say this tastefully. “Creatures from the Jeggorabax Cluster thrived on getting inside your heads; they’re powerful and often malicious.” She points to her head. “I’ve experienced things trying to get into my head, I have things in place to protect me from them, but you, Ryan, and Graham, you don’t, and I let it get into your minds. I failed to protect you three from it, and for that I’m sorry.” She lowers her head, not baring to look into her eyes. “Graham got hurt, and that creature is now free on Earth.”

Yaz frowns at The Doctor, how could she blame herself? She thought it was dead; it wasn’t her fault that it got into their heads. “No Doctor, it’s not your fault, and I’m betting Graham doesn’t blame you for him getting hurt. It was that creature.” She takes the Doctor’s hand and uses the other to lift her head. “We knew the dangers when we got on; we’ve faced all sorts of things together.” She looks into the Doctor’s eyes, she sees how ancient they are, and she’s finding it hard to look away from the intensity.

The Doctor takes in what Yaz said, her hearts beating in pride for her. She knows Graham wouldn’t blame her, but it doesn’t stop her from thinking he would. Yaz’ words encourage her, and she looks at Yaz and smiles slightly, squeezing her hand in return. “Thanks, Yaz, I needed that. How about we get back to Sheffield? We have a creature to stop after all.” She takes off back towards The TARDIS, Yaz’ hand still held in hers.

* * *

 

The TARDIS lands with as little fuss as possible today, they all eagerly walk towards The TARDIS doors. Graham has a fresh bandage on his hand and a relief on his face, finally Sheffield. Time to get supplies and rest. Graham is first to leave and stops, sighing.

“Doc, this ain’t Sheffield.” He moves over to the side, allowing the others to step out.

“I guess we get back in and try again,” said Ryan, already making his way back in.

The Doctor is outside and looking at the road, a huge smile appearing on her face. “No not Sheffield, but Bannerman Road! Ealing! Oh, this is brilliant Fam.” She’s left The TARDIS now and is already moving away quickly before she turns around again. “I’m going to introduce you to a very old and an excellent friend of mine. We might even be able to use Mr Smith to find out where our missing creature has got too.” The three Humans look at each other, Ryan and Yaz shrugging and grinning before running after The Doctor.

Graham watches the three of them run off and sighs, he shuts The TARDIS doors. “You know, I just want to go home, have a tea, sit on the sofa.” He pleads to no one but The TARDIS before following after them at a steady walk, his hand still stinging in pain.

The Doctor, Yaz, and Ryan have made their way to a house, and The Doctor is knocking loudly and continuously. Yaz notices an excited happiness about her; The Doctor needs this as much as anyone else. The door opens, and a middle-aged women steps out and takes in their appearance.

The Doctor steps forward and smiles. “Hello, Sarah Jane.”

Sarah's eyes widen before looking at The Doctor and taking in her new body. “Doctor?” The Doctor waves at her. “It is you. You’ve regenerated, and you’re a woman now.” Sarah has a moment of confusion on her face before she steps forward and reaches for a hug. The Doctor hugs her back, and they stay like that for a moment before stepping back from one another.

“I’ve missed you, Sarah, how is Luke?” asked The Doctor, looking into her house.

“He’s in college now, passed his A-Levels early, very bright young man. I’m so proud of him,” replied Sarah looking up and smiling at Yaz and Ryan. “Who are your friends, Doctor?”

The Doctor snaps her head back at Ryan and Yaz. “This is Ryan, he’s training to be a mechanic, and Yaz, she’s a police officer with a very bright future ahead of her.” They both look away, embarrassed by the praise. “I have another friend; he should be along soon.”

Sarah walks towards them and introduces herself. “So you travel with multiple people now?” She’s talking to the two young adults when she spots another figure out of the corner of her eye and gasps. She pulls Ryan and Yaz back. “Stay behind me, I’ve dealt with this creature before; it feeds on fear.” She faces Graham, who has a confused expression on his face. “I don’t know how you got out of that box, but I will put you back into it. After what you did to myself and Luke.”

Graham looks at her, he’s never met her before and as far as he knows he doesn’t feed on fear. He raises his hands. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve never seen you before in my life.” He goes to step forward, but the woman has pulled out a device that looks like a sonic screwdriver, and he stops, turning his eyes on The Doctor. “Doc, a little help.”

The Doctor jumps into action and moves in front of Sarah. “This is Graham; he’s a friend.” She’s trying to make Sarah look at her, but all she can see is the fear on her face. Why has Graham caused her so much distress? Her thoughts go back to what Sarah said just a moment ago _“Stay behind me, I’ve dealt with this creature before, it feeds on fear.”_ and her brain kicks into gear. “You said you dealt with it before? What did you mean, Sarah?”

Sarah struggles to take her eyes away from Graham. “It tried to take the children from the school, tried to feed on the parents fear and my own fear of it. We weakened it by laughter, made it so I could trap it within a box. It shouldn’t have been able to escape.” The Doctor sees Sarah breathing hard.

Yaz and Ryan watch the exchange, one moment everything was fine, and then Sarah is reacting like she’s seen a ghost. They walk forward, Yaz moving to stand near Sarah and gently touching her arm, trying to centre her.

“That’s my Grandad, Sarah,” said Ryan, stepping around her and moving towards Graham. “He couldn’t hurt anyone, proved that to us all.” He pats Graham on the arm, trying to prove that he's alright and human.

The Doctor is watching Sarah closely; whatever has caused this reaction has deeply affected her. “Ryan takes Graham and wait in the Garden. Yaz, come with me into her House.”

“Doc, I don’t understand,” said Graham, he feels awful, he can see the poor woman is having a hard time trying to fight the fear rising in her. He lets Ryan take him away from her; he never wanted to make someone feel like that upon seeing him.

“Yaz, can you go and make a tea, I need to speak to Sarah alone for a moment.” said The Doctor to Yaz, she watches her head into the kitchen before sitting next to Sarah in the living room.

“Tell me why you reacted like that when you saw Graham.” asked The Doctor gently.

Sarah explains everything to her about Elijah Spellman, Oddbob and The Pied Piper, how it used that face to cause fear among the ages. It attempted to take children from the local school and managed to take Luke from her; they defeated it in the end. The Doctor reassures her that Graham and the creature she faced are two different things. Sarah leads her upstairs and shows her the box that the creature has been stored away in. The Doctor scans it and confirms what Sarah said; the creature is still locked in the box, alive but weakened.

“I’m so sorry you were the one that had to stop it, Sarah, it should’ve been my job.” She looks down at the box; such a small thing caused so much harm. “I took my eyes away for a moment, and it entranced my new friends, I only managed to pull Ryan and Yaz. Before I could get to Graham, he already touched it. It must have stolen his face and has been using his image since.”

“So that’s really not him out there, that man?” asked Sarah in a quiet voice. “I should apologise to him.”

The Doctor's hearts sinks, not only did Graham get hurt by this creature, but it used his face to cause fear and harm, something she knows he would never do. It also harmed her dear friend Sarah.

“I think I need to explain everything to him first. I’ll leave you with Yaz.” The Doctor and Sarah make their way back downstairs, Yaz is waiting in the living room with a tea, and The Doctor watches them talk as she leaves to speak to Graham.

The Doctor makes her way to Graham and explains why Sarah reacted the way she did, explained what the creature did and how it used his face. How it took her son and threatened her, she tells him how they defeated it and that they locked it into a box.

Graham looks down at his hand, the burn still fresh. “So it’s my fault then, if I never touched that damn rock, none of this would’ve happened.” He’s angry at himself, his weakness caused an untold amount of people to die, and the damn creature used his face to do it. He turns away from the pair of them.

The Doctor takes his good hand and makes him look at her. “No Graham, if it's anyone's fault it’s mine, I should’ve paid more attention to you three.” He finally looks at her, and she can see the pain in his eyes. “So don’t go blaming yourself.”

“Yeah Grandad,” said Ryan, putting an arm around Graham. “We all know we couldn’t hurt a fly.”

Graham watches the pair of them. “Fine Doc, I won’t blame myself if you don’t blame yourself. It’s that damn creatures fault anyway.”

The three of them head back towards Sarah’s house. Ryan and The Doctor enter, but Graham hesitates before following. They walk into the living room. Yaz and Sarah turn to face them.

Sarah stands up and faces Graham, it’s hard to look at him, and she knows he isn’t the creature. She steadies herself. “I’m sorry for the way I reacted.” she takes another breath. “I know you’re not the creature, but it was difficult seeing the face again.”

Graham nods at her. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. We should start again. I’m Graham O’Brien.” He reaches out with his good hand and watches as she stares at it and he removes it when she doesn’t reach for it. There’s an awkward silence.

“How about we tell you about the time we met Rosa Parks!” said Yaz as she tries to divert the attention away from Graham. Sarah gladly takes her eyes from Graham, happy for the distraction; she doesn’t see the hurt in his eyes as he quickly leaves the room. The Doctor following behind him.

“I would like that, and I’ll tell you about the time I met the Loch Ness Monster.” Sarah, she tried, she really did, but that face sends chills down her back, she nearly lost her son to it. She almost lost her entire world _to it._

Ryan watches as his Grandad leaves, wanting to case after him but trusting that The Doctor has this covered. “We also stopped a Dalek.” He heads over to Sarah, but he can’t focus on the conversation.

The Doctor finds Graham stood outside, head leaning on the wall with his good hand running through his hair. “How are you feeling, Graham? Be honest with me.”

He looks away, the hurt coming back to his face and takes a moment to reply. “You know Doc, what really hurts.” he takes a deep breath, there’s wetness to his eyes. “Is that I’m her Tzim-Sha.” He finally looks at The Doctor. “I know it wasn’t me, but my face caused her fear and heartbreak. It took her son away from her. The way she looked at me.” He sits down on the steps to her house. “I never wanted to see someone look at me in fear, not like that,” whispered Graham.

They sit like that for a while, in silence before Graham says that it’s probably better if he goes back to the TARDIS. The Doctor watches him leave and heads back into the house; she hears Sarah, Yaz, and Ryan talking before heading back upstairs and picking up the box. She wants to destroy it, to punish it for what it did to her friends but she doesn’t, she places it into her pocket. She informs Ryan and Yaz, that they should be off now and gives a final goodbye to Sarah.

* * *

 

They make the trip back to Sheffield in silence. Yaz invites her around for Tea, but she declines, said she has something she needs to do. Graham waits for Yaz to leave and nods to Ryan that it’s okay for him to as well. He watches The Doctor from his corner, and he finally walks towards her as she takes out the box.

“That’s it then,” said Graham, pointing towards the box in her hands. The Doctor nods in response. “What are you gonna do with it?” His voice has an edge to it.

The Doctor looks at him. “I should take it back to the Jeggorabax Cluster.”

He stares at her. “Shame you wouldn’t throw it into a sun.” He knows she wouldn’t do that. “I would like to see it gone. Know it couldn’t hurt anyone again, know it couldn’t use my face to do it..”

She turns to look at the box in her hand. She stares at it, the pain it caused, and she makes her decision. “I’m not going to destroy it, Sarah was right when she said it couldn’t leave this box, this is its prison. I will seal it away in the TARDIS. It won’t be able to hurt anyone ever again.” She promises him.

“That sounds fair enough, but I’m going to need some time, Doc.” He’s walking away from her. “Just need to sort out everything in here.” He points to his head. “I’ll see you later.”

The Doctor reaches out to him, making him stop. “I’m sorry, Graham. You know you’re not at all like Tzim-Sha.” reassured The Doctor to his back.

“I know Doc.” He faces her one last time. “And that’s what killing me; she looked at me like I was.” He turns and leaves The TARDIS, breaking her hearts in the process.

**Author's Note:**

> With what it did to Sarah, I could've had this go two ways.  
> One she accepts and chats to Graham or the way I wrote it. Honestly, having the face that stole your son, attempt to take all those kids, brag about it, threaten and hurt you come back into your life after you thought you defeated it? Yeah, I don't see how she would've got over that, she never would've thought she would have to see him again.  
> Plus I'm a sucka for The Angst.  
> And Oddbob is terrifying.  
> Unbeta'ed.


End file.
